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Memorial Day weekend 2021, a 16 year old girl went to a party. She swam in her underwear. She drank too much, became ill, and passed out on a couch by herself. When she woke up, her face was being pushed into a pillow and a person was sexually assaulting her in the form of vaginal penetration.
She immediately left the scene and woke up friends who were sleeping in a nearby room. They left the house where they had been sleeping and reported the rape to a trusted adult the next morning.
The perpetrator of this sexual assault, Drew S. Clinton, who has ties to both the Detroit, Michigan, area and also Quincy, Illinois, area was 18 years old at the time. He was arrested and confirmed that it was true he had penetrated the victim sexually. He was charged with three counts of criminal sexual assault, to which he pled "not guilty," with his defense being he had believed the encounter to be consensual.
At the conclusion of a Bench Trial, on October 15, 2021, Drew S. Clinton was found guilty on one count of criminal sexual assault for digitally penetrating the victim. He was found not guilty of the other two counts.
Judge Robert "Bob" Adrian was the judge who ruled Drew S. Clinton is guilty of criminal sexual assault.
However, on January 3, 2022, this very same Judge Adrian reversed his own ruling and declared the defendant was not guilty. In addition, Judge Adrian made a number of intensely gross remarks concerning this case, the victim and her family, and women in general.
These are some of the remarks Judge Adrian made that have been released to the public:
"This happened when this teenager … was two weeks past 18 years old. He has no prior record, none whatsoever. By law, the court is supposed to sentence this young man to the Department of Corrections. This court will not do that. That is not just. There is no way for what happened in this case that this teenager should go to the Department of Corrections. I will not do that."
"Mr. Clinton has served almost five months in the county jail, 148 days. For what happened in this case, that is plenty of punishment."
"The court is going to reconsider its verdict and is going to find the defendant not guilty. Therefore, the defendant will be released from custody. Bond will be discharged."
"This is what happens when parents do not exercise their parental responsibilities, when we have people, adults, having parties for teenagers, and they allow coeds and female people to swim in their underwear in their swimming pool. And, no, underwear is not the same as swimming suits. They allowed 16-year-olds to bring liquor to a party. They provided liquor to underage people, and you wonder how these things happen. Well, that's how these things happen. The court is totally disgusted with that whole thing."
These statements set the precedent that if a victim swims in their underwear and drinks alcohol, "these things happen." They say if a perpetrator is being caught for the first time, he believes they should get a mulligan. They say that Judge Adrian reversed his own ruling because he simply did not want to hand down the sentence that is associated with the crime to which he himself had already found the perpetrator guilty.
That is not how the law is to operate.
Judge Adrian does not have the authority to change the law because he wants to. His job is to uphold and defend the law.
There is no contest that Drew S. Clinton did sexually penetrate the victim. There was no contest that the victim was 16 years old at the time. By that simple fact alone, the victim was legally unable to offer sexual consent under any circumstances. Additionally, intoxicated persons are not able to offer consent.
The sexual assault this young girl experienced is egregious in and of itself - but what Judge Adrian has said and done to not only this survivor but to ALL current and future sexual assault survivors and their loved ones is an irreconcilable deviation from both the spirit and the letter of the law. If he does not have faith and consistency in his own rulings, there is no reason for the public to respect his continuance in the position of power as an authority of the law.
For the reprehensible precedent Judge Adrian has set by not upholding the law, we ask that you censure, suspend, and/or remove him from his position in the Eighth Circuit Court in Illinois.
FURTHER READINGS:
Guilty, then not guilty: Judge causes tempest by changing verdict in criminal sexual assault case, delivering rebuke from bench – Muddy River News
Statement on the Recent Sexual Assault Case in Judge Adrian's Courtroom - Quanada
Judge criticized for reversing teen's sexual assault verdict, saying 148 days in jail is 'plenty' - Washington Post
'In 15 minutes he destroyed all the healing': Father blasts judge for 'muzzling' daughter by reversing rape verdict - The Independent
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